Murphy's law-if anything can go wrong, it will: Problems in phage electron microscopy

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Microscopy techniques
• Scientific imaging

Background:

• Bacteriophage electron microscopy quality has declined since the 1980s.
• This decline correlates with the adoption of digital electron microscopes and a potential decrease in expert oversight.
• Poor contrast and artifact misinterpretation are significant issues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify the causes of declining quality in bacteriophage electron microscopy.
• To highlight common errors and their impact on viral particle identification.
• To emphasize the role of human factors and journal standards in maintaining microscopy quality.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of trends in bacteriophage electron microscopy quality.
• Identification of common technical and interpretative errors.
• Review of the impact of digital microscopy and operator training.

Main Results:

• A noticeable decline in bacteriophage electron microscopy quality since the 1980s.
• Frequent issues include poor contrast, unrecognized positive staining artifacts, and misdiagnosis of non-viral materials.
• Digital electron microscopes are often operated without magnification control, contributing to errors.
• Human failure is identified as the main cause of these problems.

Conclusions:

• The quality of bacteriophage electron microscopy is compromised by technical and interpretative errors, largely due to human factors.
• Stricter standards in sample preparation, image acquisition, and interpretation are crucial.
• Journals play a vital role in quality control through rigorous peer review to prevent the publication of substandard work.